When Inuyasha Loves
by exohrina
Summary: Inuyasha finds himself feeling strangely toward Kagome, until he meets up with Kikyo again. Now he must decide who he really loves the Original Priestess or the Reincarnated Girl.


Sango threw Miroku a fathomable look as she pulled her Hiratsu from its place on her back and pulled it in front of her. Leaning against it casually, she continued to watch the older monk with a serious and unreadable expression on her face. Miroku's flirtatious tactics had become well known to Sango over the time they had spent together, with Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou and Kirara, but Miroku could still surprise Sango with his keen fingers and groping hands at times.

Really, it was rather disgusting, but at times when she wasn't being serious – which was close to never – she found she could enjoy his – though perverted – touch.

Miroku was far to busy chatting idly with Kagome to notice Sango and her look however, and it went unnoticed except by Inuyasha, who Sango could tell, was rather annoyed at Miroku for some irrational reason.

"That's not going to get his attention you know," Inuyasha told her peevishly, examining his long nails as he sat crouched in the tree above her head.

Sango looked up at him, frowning slightly as she shifted her Hiratsu so she could continue to lean on it comfortably. "What do you mean, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha shrugged, continuing to examine his nails and shooting Sango an amused look. The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably, but only for a moment before he had his lips back into their usual thin-lipped place. "Oh, I dunno," he told her, a tone of a mocking nature creeping into his voice. He pulled his hands back into his long red sleeves of his Cloth of the Fire Rat clothing, before springing down onto the ground beside her, with catlike grace – though he was a dog demon – and a soft thump following. His lengthy silver hair following suit before floating softly to his shoulders again, which he shrugged once more.

"What do you mean?" She repeated quirking a questioning eyebrow at him as she followed his quick and agile movements.

Inuyasha could be quite confusing and she usually tried ignoring such unnerving comments, but he had gotten her curiosity peaked. What wouldn't attract Miroku's attention; her drawing her Hiratsu and frowning at him. Of course not, she hadn't expected it to, he had Kagome to talk to, and she was far from ugly.

"I mean," Inuyasha interrupted her thoughts, "you're not going to get Miroku's attention just by prancing around with your Hiratsu and glaring at him," he continued, loudly. "Though, I'd guess that's what you did the first time." He grinned at Sango mocking, before glancing over toward Miroku and Kagome who had stopped their conversation and looked over at them.

"Unless you want to get my attention that way, Sango!" Miroku chirped, rushing to her side quickly and placing an arm around her shoulder, the hand of which arm running down her back toward her ass.

Sango glared at Inuyasha quickly, before blushing when Miroku grabbed her. From one woman to the next – it didn't change with Miroku she noted dully as her face burnt. "Not really," she said coldly, brushing Miroku's hand away from her ass and bringing the same hand up to leave a white mark on his left cheek, which quickly turned red.

Kagome glared at Inuyasha as well, rolling her large brown eyes at the half-demon who found so much time to pair up the two of them lately. Why didn't he take the same time and put it into finally realizing her feelings were more than simply friendly or affectionate.

Why had he had to go and know Kikyo before he met her reincarnation, the moron. She was better for him anyway – at least she helped him collect the shards of the Shikon Jewel rather than protecting it from demons – full and half – like him, and piercing him to a tree for fifty years.

It was times like these that Kagome wished she wasn't the Priestess' reincarnation and that she didn't know how to travel through time, and simply hadn't ever met Inuyasha. That would be a much better life, through a rather boring one.

"Oh, Inuyasha," she said, frowning still as she placed her hands on her green-clad hips. "Leave Sango alone for a little, will you? I'm sure she's not the only one that's getting annoyed at your little game."

Inuyasha watched Kagome turn up her nose in distain as she huffed at him and raised an eyebrow. She wasn't jealous, was she; she didn't want to be hitched up with someone… Did she?

With the same smirk that had played on his face before, Inuyasha pounced to Kagome's side and crossed his arms over his broad chest, while he feigned insult at her comment.

"Oh, I get it," he told her mockingly, "you want to be hitched up with someone too. Well go find someone else to do it for you," he huffed. "I'm only helping Sango and Miroku because they won't do it on their own," he told her.

"Helping them?" Shippou asked as he clambered up to Kagome's shoulder and stared at Inuyasha unblinkingly. The fox demon looked utterly confused for a long moment, before he put two and two together. Inuyasha though Kagome was jealous! Oh, this was going to be good, Kagome would really show Inuyasha.

"Yeah!" Sango interrupted, agreeing with Shippou as she tried to no avail to pull Miroku's hand from her ass again. This was getting old – wasn't one slap enough? She slapped him again, harder this time than she had last time.

"Ow!" Miroku cried as he let go of Sango's ass to rub at his temporarily marred face. This wouldn't do if they were starting off again today – what if they met some pretty girls and he had a hand-print on his hand. He scowled at Sango and stalked off to the bank of the stream they had stopped by for the night.

"Want you to hitch me up with someone?" Kagome repeated, looking surprised through her most obvious anger. "Inuyasha, you're so stupid!" She glared at him again and raised her hand to smack the half-demon as Sango had done to Miroku. But she decided against it quickly. Undoubtedly, Inuyasha wouldn't take to a physical slap to the face very well – he didn't take verbal bashing well, though he could retort well – and it wouldn't be long if she did smack him, before he returned the favor, probably sending her flying. Scowling, she watched Miroku stalk off and wondered how likely it would be for Inuyasha to follow her if she did. He wouldn't come right after her to apologize – apologize, him? Never! – But if she stayed out for boring hours, he might come looking to see if she had managed to get herself in a mess again.

It was like he thought she couldn't take care of herself. She could, it was just harder than having someone do it for you, and besides, Inuyasha did it just fine. But if he wasn't there, Kagome could take on the job of looking out for herself. Maybe she'd do it now, just to get Inuyasha off her case. "Sit boy," she said quietly, before stalking off angrily, without waiting to see him give her a half surprised half angry look before he fell with a loud –

Thump!

"Why you!" he growled after her, finding himself face down on the ground, crouching like a dog ready to spring. Behind him, he could hear Sango sigh in annoyance at both of their immaturity before stalking off. Now he had to wait, oh grand.

He watched Kagome stride off, the atmosphere around her screaming anger, insult and pain. Why was she so hurt – she wasn't usually so temperamental. Perhaps she was using those white things he had found in her yellow backpack once. Whenever she was using those, she was usually overly sensitive and very temperamental. Ah – women, he'd never get them.

---

She had been gone for at least an hour; an hour in which at least one of the group could have felt concern for her and come looking – but no one had. She sat on the same log deep in the dark forest she had sat on when she had first entered the dismal tree inhabited area an hour before; it was half rotten and threatened to give in under her weight. There was moss and leaves everywhere, from past seasons no doubt. They offered a sense of uncertainty for Kagome, were they dry enough in the current wet weather to announce the approach of any visitors, wanted or not; she could only hope.

She had torn her school uniform and would need to wear something else to keep her dignity intact – what small portion of it was left, anyway. There was a large hole in her shirt, and the right sleeve had half ripped off, causing scratches from inhospitable branches which she happened to run through blind with tears earlier on.

There was another one down the side of her skirt, which was threatening to tear even more if she moved too quickly. Which, hopefully, she wouldn't have too.

Not only would she rip her clothes off if she moved too quickly, but she would probably have a reason to do so – like spotting an animal or unknown demon, or even worse… Inuyasha.

He wouldn't be too pleased she had told him to sit, especially when he had to obey the command and fall face down to the ground where ever he stood.

Kagome, however, wasn't too worried about Inuyasha at the moment and was considering her own problems.

She was half naked, lost, cold and hungry – and being wet didn't help either. It had rained since she had arrived in the forest in search of half-hoped for solitude, which she had gotten. Shivering not only with cold but with sobs and anger as well, Kagome finally stood and stared around her. In all directions, there was a small pathway to the clearing she had ended up in and when she had run here, she hadn't exactly been paying attention to where she was going.

She didn't know how to navigate like Inuyasha did, and had no way of knowing which way to go – toward or away from the sun which had risen slightly and was peering through the branches in random places.

Sighing in defeat, she sat back down again, causing the tree to groan under her and finally give way, sending Kagome down into the dirt and mud. Clambering up again, Kagome frowned, threw up her hands and sighed again in defeat.

"Fuck!" She yelled, her voice echoing through the forest. "Fuck," she repeated, more softly this time, before bringing her arms down again and pulling her hands through her dark hair. She had twigs in it now, which she tried to rid her tangled locks of with a quick shake of her head and a rough comb-through with her fingertips.

Suddenly, behind her, Kagome heard the slightest of crunches as someone stepped on a dried leaf that had avoided the rain. Jumping in surprise, Kagome wheeled around on the spot, reaching behind her head for her bow and an arrow, neither of which were there. It was probably just Inuyasha, though. She couldn't possibly be in much danger, unless Naraku was foolish enough to wander these woods with Inuyasha so close by.

Of course, Naraku wasn't entirely stupid and would probably have spies, setups and traps all around, to ensure his safety. Wonderful, now look what a mess she had gotten herself into – unless it was Naraku prowling.

It could be another one of Naraku's demons – it wouldn't be the first time the awful man – if he could be called that – had sent someone else to do his dirty work. Kagome wasn't quite sure if he was a man – he had no feelings or emotions to play on, and she had seen him in his horrifying true form. No, Kagome decided quickly as she continued to watch the direction the leaf had crackled from, Naraku wasn't a man.

Hopefully, whatever was out there was – though, even if there was a man, it wouldn't be she was entirely safe either – was human. Kagome would have rather faced a human than a Youkai or a full fledged demon, anyway.

---

Inuyasha paced in annoyance along the river bank. The little group was silent, except for the odd splash of Kirara diving into the water for fish and Shippou playing noisily. Sango and Miroku were not on speaking terms it seemed, as Sango was apparently concentrating just as hard on the forest which Kagome had run into an hour previous, as he was. Miroku on the other hand, appeared to be mixing up some tincture Inuyasha noticed, as he glanced around their makeshift camp wordlessly.

He was becoming uneasy; it wasn't like Kagome to be gone and silent for this long. She hadn't be hurt, had she; that would be terrible, if his Shikon Jewel seer was hurt, what on earth would he do. Though of course, her being not too terrible and hard to handle was a bonus, she was growing on him slightly.

He wondered how far she had gotten in before getting lost – humans had no sense of directions it was an insult to the part of him that was human, though Inuyasha tended not to think about that part of him, though he heard about it from opponents quite often.

Speaking of opponents, a good one would be welcomed right now. Too bad he and Miroku were on semi-speaking terms – not that he would be a good opponent. Inuyasha sighed and glanced around the camp again.

"I'm going to look for her," he said finally, leaping into the air gracefully. "Don't make me come and rescue you too as well when I get back!"

Miroku sniffed dryly at that, but didn't reply otherwise. His tincture needed to be just right, and Youkai comments weren't going to make this tincture go bad. Besides, he was actually enjoying the time of silence between him and Sango – it made him feel like Sango had forgiven him to the slightest degree. She wasn't fuming at him anymore, and his face didn't feel like pins and needles in a handprint.

Sango jumped up suddenly, her Hiratsu in hand. "Kirara!" she called, ignoring Miroku who gave her a suspicious look.

Climbing onto the back of the now full sized creature, Sango glanced back quickly at Miroku. "Watch the camp," she told him, before her companion jumped into the air, her two tails spitting furious fire, and bounded after Inuyasha who had since disappeared.

Miroku could sit and rot for all she cared right now – Kagome's safety was far more important than the monk's feelings. Though she hadn't done anything, Sango would feel oddly guilty if anything came ill of Kagome.

Below her, she could see the silver hair of Inuyasha before he went crashing through the trees again. Spurring Kirara on, Sango glanced around for any opening that the large demon could land in without too much damage either to Kirara or the forest.

Now, to find an opening for Kirara to land, then, to find Kagome.

---

Kagome found herself frightened to death, rooted to the spot and weaponless. She was going to die; oh she was going to die. Swaying back and forth gently on the spot she had taken, she continued to look in the general direction the noise had come from, unblinkingly. No one had stepped through the shadowy depths yet, to claim her life or wish her damage. But Kagome almost wished they might, just so this phase of uncertain nervousness would end.

"In - Inuyasha?" she asked hesitantly, glancing through the wood. Somehow, she doubted it was Inuyasha – he wouldn't play these games.

Suddenly, she was aware of someone watching her and she shivered. Then, there was movement and a flash of red garment before a young woman walked into the clearing.

Kagome recognized her immediately as Kikyo, the woman she had been reincarnated from. She was surrounded by those serpent-like soul collectors she controlled, which frightened Kagome immensely.

"So Kagome," Kikyo said suddenly, her voice quiet and hands at her side, though her bow was resting loosely in her left one. "We meet once again."


End file.
